European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

Effects of Enviromental Variables on Poultry Performance and Pond Water Quality in an
Integrated Poultry/Fishery Farming 806
consequently led to a decrease in the dissolved oxygen. Water turbidity also increased with
increased droppings. Other water parameters like conductivity, chloride and pH values
were within acceptable values suggested in literatures.
The system has shown the possibility of effective poultry waste management
technique which ensured that nothing is wasted and waste handling problem is grossly
reduced.
Keywords: Integrated, fishery, poultry, droppings, pond
1. Introduction
In many parts of the world, fish have provided an important part of people’s diet for centuries. The
increasing per capita consumption of fish is partially due to consumer demand for healthy diet and the
growing recognition that the fatty acid content of fish provides health benefit to man. The growth rate
of the world’s human population has called for increased harvest of fish and fisheries products from
marine and inland waters (Woynarovich 1979). Chandrasoma (1988) observed that during the last
hundred years, fish catches have increased rapidly due to improved technologies. The need to increase
fish production by fish farming is urgent. Fish farming is an agricultural activity that can deeply
improve the already existing farming system. As in agriculture, fish farming techniques include the
removal of unwanted plants and animals, their replacement by desirable species, the improvement of
these species by crossbreeding and selection, and the improvement of food availability by the use of
fertilizer. Fish farming can benefit from agricultural by-products generated by other activities, as these
activities can be used to increase the quality of plankton, that is, the natural food of fish (Chakrabarty
and Hettiarachchi 1982). Fish farming can be combined with poultry, animal husbandry and irrigation
practices, which can lead to higher production and net profits. This practice is called integrated fish
farming or integrated aquaculture. The integration of animal husbandry, especially poultry, with fish
farming in a small scale results in the production of organic manure for the fertilization of the fish pond
to increase the production of the natural food organism (planktonic algae) to be eaten by the fish. In
some cases, the poultry wastes are used as direct food by some fish without supplementary feedings,
such species include Nile Tilapia (FAO, 1996).
Intensive livestock housing such as livestock-fish farming employs an environmental control
system to maintain animal health and welfare and raise production efficiency. The thermal
environment within an animal house can be defined in terms of air temperature, relative humidity,
thermal radiation and air velocity. Air temperature and sometimes relative humidity, are commonly
used as the criteria by which the rate of ventilation is controlled (Charles 1994).
Adverse environments can affect the incidence and severity of certain endemic diseases. For
example, a poor indoor microclimate, which is characterized by an inadequate thermal environment,
poor ventilation and high burden of aerial pollutants, can play a major role in the aetiology of enzootic
bronchopneumonia of calves and weaner pigs (Eikmeier and Mayer 1965).
Several authors have discussed and reported the effect of temperature on the milk yield of dairy
cow, the performance of fattening pigs and the egg yield of laying hens. The lower critical temperature
(LCT) defines the lower limit of the range of optimal temperature: the upper limit is given by the upper
critical temperature (UCT). LCT is affected by factors such as age, sex, breed, food energy level and
intake, feathering, stocking density, bedding system, etc. UCT values are rarely exceeded for housed
livestock in temperate climates but a serious problem in the tropical humid climate like Nigeria. The
CIGR commission recommended maximum and minimum values of relative humidity (RH) as a
function of indoor temperature, for example an RH of 50-90% at 0ºC followed by a steady decrease of
RH to a tolerable range of 40-60% at 30ºC.